Bed Bath & Beyond sees ‘meme-stock’ surge – but is it too little, too late?

The US home retailer, once worth $17bn, looks destined to enter chapter 11 despite a market rally this week. What went wrong?

Bed Bath & Beyond, the pioneering home goods retailer, appears to be heading for bankruptcy. But you wouldn't necessarily know it from visiting its flagship store in New York's Chelsea neighbourhood - or by looking at its share price this week.

Last year Bed Bath & Beyond was one of the so-called meme stocks", including Gamestop, an ailing video games retailer, and cinema chain AMC, whose share prices were driven to dizzying heights by a new generation of online traders.